U.S. criticizes Myanmar court decision on Reuters journalists

So the obvious question becomes why would US State Department become involved? It becomes clear when you read the last line on the second source. Do wee see our State Department now getting involved for the right reason(s) at the right time for a just cause. And it's the msm of Reuters that Trump Administration is trying to assist?

Thoughts Anons?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States criticized Myanmar on Wednesday after the Asian country’s high court upheld the sentencing of two Reuters journalists, expressing deep concern about freedom of expression and urging that the two be reunited with their families.

“Burma’s Supreme Court decision yesterday to uphold the sentencing of Pulitzer-prize winning journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, despite serious irregularities in the case against them, sends a profoundly negative signal about freedom of expression and the protection of journalists in Burma,” the State Department said in a statement, using the country’s former name.

SOURCE

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-journalists-usa/u-s-criticizes-myanmar-court-decision-on-reuters-journalists-idUSKCN1S02CK?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

More about the details of the case

WA LONE AND KYAW SOE

STATUS: IN PRISON

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, both Myanmar reporters for the Reuters news agency, were arrested on December 12, 2017, and held incommunicado for several weeks. The two journalists were charged on January 10, 2018, with violating the Official Secrets Act, a rarely invoked law created during the British colonial period that punishes taking images or obtaining documents that might be or are intended to be “useful to an enemy,” which carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. Prosecutors have charged the journalists with obtaining important and secret state documents relating to the crisis in Rakhine State, from which some 680,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled since August 2017. Prior to their arrest, the journalists had been investigating the existence of a mass grave in the village of Inn Din.

SOURCE

https://pen.org/advocacy-case/wa-lone-kyaw-soe-oo/

Exclusive: Gold worth billions smuggled out of Africa

NAIROBI, (Reuters) - Billions of dollars’ worth of gold is being smuggled out of Africa every year through the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East – a gateway to markets in Europe, the United States and beyond – a Reuters analysis has found.

Customs data shows that the UAE imported $15.1 billion worth of gold from Africa in 2016, more than any other country and up from $1.3 billion in 2006. The total weight was 446 tonnes, in varying degrees of purity – up from 67 tonnes in 2006.

Much of the gold was not recorded in the exports of African states. Five trade economists interviewed by Reuters said this indicates large amounts of gold are leaving Africa with no taxes being paid to the states that produce them.

Previous reports and studies have highlighted the black-market trade in gold mined by people, including children, who have no ties to big business, and dig or pan for it with little official oversight. No-one can put an exact figure on the total value that is leaving Africa. But the Reuters analysis gives an estimate of the scale.

Reuters assessed the volume of the illicit trade by comparing total imports into the UAE with the exports declared by African states. Industrial mining firms in Africa told Reuters they did not send their gold to the UAE – indicating that its gold imports from Africa come from other, informal sources.

Informal methods of gold production, known in the industry as “artisanal” or small-scale mining, are growing globally. They have provided a livelihood to millions of Africans and help some make more money than they could dream of from traditional trades. But the methods leak chemicals into rocks, soil and rivers. And African governments such as Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia complain that gold is now being illegally produced and smuggled out of their countries on a vast scale, sometimes by criminal operations, and often at a high human and environmental cost.

SOURCE FULL ARTICLE

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gold-africa-smuggling-exclusive/exclusive-gold-worth-billions-smuggled-out-of-africa-idUSKCN1S00IT?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews